January 20, 2026 – According to a report from market research firm Similarweb, as covered by TechCrunch yesterday, Meta’s social media platform Threads has surpassed Elon Musk’s X in terms of daily active users on mobile devices. However, when it comes to the web version, Threads is still far behind X.
Data from Similarweb shows that as of January 7, 2026, Threads had 141.5 million daily active users on iOS and Android platforms, while X had 125 million on these two mobile platforms.
TechCrunch pointed out that this shift is more of a result of long – term trends rather than a direct reaction to X’s recent controversies. Previously, users discovered that X’s built – in AI tool Grok generated nude photos of women without their consent, and even involved minors. The California Attorney General has launched an investigation into Grok, and similar investigations have been initiated in regions such as the UK, the EU, India, and Brazil.
These controversies surrounding X have also led to an increase in the download volume of the emerging social media platform Bluesky recently.
In contrast, Threads’ growth in daily active users may be attributed to Meta’s cross – promotion across its other social media platforms. For instance, Instagram often features Threads ads. Additionally, Threads provides strong support to some creators.
Over the past year, Threads has added a series of new features, including interest – based communities, better content filters, private messages, long – form posts, ephemeral posts, and mini – games. The growing number of daily active users indicates that more and more people are using Threads as their daily social media platform.
In the US market, X still holds the lead over Threads, but the gap is gradually narrowing. After all, X’s daily active user count in the US last year was almost double what it is now.
Moreover, Threads’ combined daily traffic from the.com and.net domains is only 8.5 million, while X has about 150 million, showing that X’s influence on the web remains unshakable.
